Pieces of Naruto
by dragonblade3200
Summary: A gathering of story idea's for Naruto. Their may be some crossovers, though it is not planned. Feel free to use any ideas you come across, even whole stories, just drop me a message so I can favorite it.
1. Chapter 1 Chains of Fate

The Chains of Fate

What if Naruto had a Bloodline from the very start of the series, a minor one but useful none-the-less? What would change for Naruto if he had access to the Uzumaki's Special Chakra?

-0-

On the day he was born Uzumaki Naruto was orphaned.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked Konoha and his parents, he would later be told, had died in the attack. The truth of that night would be kept a secret from _much_ longer though. Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato's names would be scratched from almost all public records, the files destroyed, the truth of the Yondaime Hokage and the Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuriki would be lost to written word…

At age four he joined the Shinobi Academy.

It was a surprised Sarutobi Hiruzen that received the request. Naruto had seemed like such a peaceful boy whenever he visited the orphanage, never mentioning the possibility of becoming a Shinobi. The fact of the matter would have depressed him so much more: The orphanage caretaker and Naruto had come to an understanding, if Naruto became an Academy student and showed that he wouldn't be dropped from the program, then one or both of them could request that Naruto be removed from the building. The two did not get along, but they both wanted Naruto out of the place. In fact the old caretaker, a retired Shinobi of little renown, had gone as far as to show Naruto a few tricks when he was struggling, just so Naruto wouldn't be dropped from the program before the first year was up.

At age five he got his own apartment.

When the first year was finally over Naruto and the caretaker had jointly gone to the Hokage and requested that Naruto be removed from the orphanage. As a member of the Academy, the caretaker had said, Naruto was learning dangerous skills that could, even unintentionally, harm his other wards. Naruto on the other hand agreed and put in that he would have a harder time studying with the distractions caused by the civilian's and the fact that they seemed, ignorantly, interested in messing with his Shinobi supplies. In the end Naruto was set up with an older apartment that was near the Konoha Market District and a monthly stipend. Amicably the caretaker and Naruto parted, only getting along when Naruto was set up to leave… The irony was not lost on the caretaker who was actually starting to regret his actions towards the boy…

At age six he failed the graduation test for the Academy for the first time.

Though by any estimation he had tried to take the test entirely too early. The Academy was set up in a manner that allowed students to try and graduate early, provided three things: The student has been in Academy for at least two years, with no less than two years between attempts at the graduation test. The student must be passing in all subjects, even if just barely. And last they must have permission from at least one teacher. When Naruto had tried for the first time he had felt confident, though the mere fact that he hadn't been taught any of the ninjutsu in order to pass had been a problem. The young teacher who had given him the ok had seemed to of forgotten that Naruto didn't have a clan to teach him the Academy basics, as many others did… Meaning he should have waited at least another three years to try and graduate anyway…

At age seven the Sandaime told him about his Clan.

The year that had followed had shown a depressed Naruto, who couldn't find anyone to teach him the Basics Three, as they were called: The Clone Technique, the Transformation Technique, and the Substitution Technique. In his depression he had received a visit from the Sandaime, who had asked him to tell him what was wrong. The young boy had responded with how unfair it was, that so many of his schoolmates had been able to learn the Basic Three from their families and how he couldn't because he was just a clanless orphan, that others were taught all kinds of abilities while he and so many others worked as hard as they could to no end, since those with clans were able to perform so much better by using their Bloodlines, Clan Techniques and Taijutsu styles, and the help of their large families to receive all kinds of training and equipment that others, like himself, couldn't.

Hiruzen decided to cheer the boy up by telling him something he hadn't known: Uzumaki was a Clan name.

"Your father, Naruto, was a great Shinobi, but your mother was the one from a Noble Clan." The man had told him, making the boy go wide eyed. Noble Clan's were those that had helped found one of the Hidden Villages. "The Uzumaki Clan came from the small but powerful village of Uzushiogakure no Sato. The Uzumaki made them feared throughout the Elemental Nations for their amazing abilities with Fuinjutsu. In fact they were also allied with the Shodai Hokage and the Senju Clan of the Forest and that fact is actually why Konoha Shinobi have the Spiral on their uniforms, to show that Konoha is loyal to the Uzumaki still, trusting them to fight alongside them when the time comes."

The remainder of the day and into the night was spent with the Hokage regaling Naruto of his mothers clan… Never once mentioning the woman's name. At the end of the night Naruto asked if his clan had any techniques, to which Hiruzen answered truthfully that he didn't know of any that he could use, but would look into it…

At age eight he tried to graduate early again.

He failed once more, though many said that it was rare for Shinobi to graduate early without a Bloodline of some kind. This time though he didn't get depressed, he didn't cry of the injustice of it all, instead he went to the Hokage, who had been much too busy lately to visit him. Once more they talked into the night, this time though the Sandaime had a gift for his student.

"Naruto, you asked me last time if I had any techniques from the Uzumaki Clan." The man started, seeing the young boys face light up, "I am sorry to say that I have not found any." And like that he was frowning, "Instead I have decided to give you something that I believe is rightfully yours. I was going to wait until you were older, a Chuunin perhaps, but I feel that now is the right time." And with that he handed the boy a letter before taking his leave of Naruto's apartment, where they had made their way to after dinner.

'_Ojii-san said that it was mine…'_ the young blond thought to himself, turning the blank envelope that the letter resided in.

After a few hesitant moments he broke the seal, pulling free the slightly yellowed paper with black script…

It was from his mother!

'_My Dearest Child,_

_I'm sorry I can't be there right now; I don't know what could have happened. I felt I should say that first, as it is the only way you would be reading this, I'm sure. You've barely been conceived and yet I'm already afraid that your father or I might not be there for you. I remember that Mito-sama would tell me to write a letter to myself when I was feeling bad, so I could tell someone what was wrong without worrying that they would make fun of me for it. So I decided I would instead write a letter to you my unnamed baby, so that if it should truly happen then you can at least have one word from your mother. _

_Your four months old now little one, still inside my tummy and now I know you are my precious little boy. Will you be like your father, so strong and ironed willed, or like me, a bit of a menace and more than a little afraid? While I hope you grow up to be like your daddy I can't help but wish that part of me will live on through you. It will be dangerous, or so I am told by Biwako-sama, the birth that is. I am a member of the Uzumaki with our Special Chakra, as Mito-sama called it, so I was chosen as her successor. I hope it all goes well… but if it does not then I hope you too have Mito-sama's and my Special Chakra, it will help so much if Minato-kun and I fail._

_Your fast approaching my little Naruto-chan, and I can already feel that you're so strong. You kick like a true Shinobi and punch as good as your mother. I am worried once more what the future may hold for us Naruto-chan. Will you have a mother? A father? A Bloodline? A Burden? I realize now that you have no Clan any longer, the Uzumaki have been gone for nearly a decade, the Chain's that bind the Uzumaki to Uzu no Kuni cut down to one… and soon two. _

_It seems like I am writing to you more and more as we get closer to October; that's when you'll be born by the way, right in the middle of October. I guess I'm feeling more and more worried as it goes. I remember my mother, when she gave birth to my brother Matahachi. She never seemed to have these worries. She was so calm and serene. I do remember though, before she passed away, she brought my baby brother to her, imparting words of wisdom to him before telling me that I should remember her words too. So here are some things to remember Naruto from what my mother told me and what I've added on since then:_

_Don't be a fussy eater, eat a lot and grow to be a big boy. Take your bath everyday and go to bed early and sleep well. Make friends, it doesn't matter how many, just make sure they're real friends, people you can trust… even a few is enough. Study your Ninjutsu, I was never very good at it, maybe you will be. Everyone has things they're good at and things they're not, so don't feel bad if you can't do it all. Make sure you listen to the teachers at the Academy. And remember to avoid the Three Vices of Shinobi. Don't borrow money if you can help it and save what you can from missions. No alcohol until your twenty and don't overdo it or you'll ruin your body. And as for women… Well… just try not to pick a weird one. Remember who you are, find a goal… a dream… And don't stop trying until it comes true… And Please don't cry like I am now sochi-kun._

_One more month until you come into the world Naruto-chan, I just can't wait. I can feel it already, the Chains that Bind us together. It was a unique skill of mine, even among the Uzumaki, I could feel how people and places were bound to each other. I felt it with your father when we first met, though I wasn't too impressed with him at first, and I can feel it now with you sochi-kun. I don't know if anyone has told you, or if there will even be anyone too tell you, but you have a powerful Bloodline Naruto-chan. We Uzumaki can control the Chakra Chains that are inside us and make them real… Oh there is so much I could tell you… I know, I'll write another letter to leave to you… The Chakra Chains will come Naturally to you, just as it did to me…_

_Hello once more Naruto-chan. I can't wait to meet you my baby. I wrote that second letter to you… I hid it near the Memorial Stone with Kashi-kun's help. He's promised to make sure that no one touches it until you find it, he's there enough as it is. I want to say that- _

_Oh dear, you're here!_

_Love your mother, My Sochi,_

_Uzumaki Kushina The Nidaime Kyuubi Jinchuriki.'_

He didn't know what to do, what to say… It was from his mother… it was special, it was from the heart.

She loved him.

In the morning he walked to the Hokage, asking him where the Memorial Stone was.

At age nine he awoken the Bloodline Limit he had inherited from his mother.

He was nearly a year into the New Academy session when it happened. The boy had undergone quite the change since he had failed last. When Hiruzen had asked where it had come from Naruto responded,

"My mother told me to listen to the Academy Teachers Ojii-san, so I will… How else will I reach my goal?"

Laughing in delight that his gift had done so much good he asked, "So Naruto-kun… What _is_ your goal?"

Smiling brightly the boy looked up at the older man, "One day, I'm going to be the greatest Hokage who's ever lived!"

The Academy was still hard for the boy though, as he struggled to do the Basic Three still. He just couldn't get them! It was the Chakra Chains that did it, he knew, but it was still so frustrating. When doing jutsu the natural shape of their chakra messed up jutsu, since the handseals were supposed to give chakra, which was normally formless, shape. His chakra already had a shape, one that didn't like to be changed. According to his mothers second letter an Uzumaki with the Chakra Chains had to wake up the Bloodline before they could ever really do jutsu.

For Naruto it took a life or death situation to awaken his ability.

While the boy had not had an easy life, that was sure, it was far from a cruel one. There had been no mobs gathering to kill him, no landlord charging him an arm and a leg to stay in his apartment, and no, he wasn't kicked out of every shop and charged triple at those who would let him shop there.

There were a few shops that would not serve him, true, and a couple of times he had been swindled good. But as far as physical torment went it was just a few older civilians, Academy students, and Genin that liked to rough him up a bit. Once he had spent some time in the Academy the civilians had given up on pushing him around; a few bloody noses had solved that problem. And the Academy students weren't as much of a problem as they once were.

The Genin on the other hand were still a problem.

It was two in particular, a girl by the name of Ami and a boy named Takezo.

Ami was somewhat of a 'school bully' during the Academy, Naruto remembered, picking on everyone when she got the chance. Unfortunately she also had the skills and power to backup her antics. When she had graduated a sigh of relief had been let out by most of the students in the Academy… then they had run into the girl out and around the village. She was the epitome of Shinobi corruption, what the Shodai had placed the stepping stones for by gathering so many Shinobi in one place, the Nidaime had enabled by being more of a war leader than moral leader, and the Sandaime and Yondaime had devoted themselves to ridding Konoha of in vain. She used her position as a Genin to order the younger students around, stealing from them, using her own greater physical prowess to keep them quite, and informing the more naïve of them that she could guarantee their success or failure upon graduating from the Academy.

Takezo was nothing more than a tool to Ami, to be completely honest. They had ended up on the same team when they graduated and Ami managed to get him to go along with whatever she wanted. The boy was little more than an animal in a way. A towering specimen who studied the sword and had an amazing bloodlust. Yet like all animals he had basic needs and Ami was willing to provide one of the most physical of those needs to keep him tamed. Yet even on his own he was cruel, 'practicing' with nearly anyone he wanted, including civilians, other Genin, and Ami's 'friends' still in the Academy. If it weren't for Ami he surely would have been found out and locked away long before.

For Naruto it really was a little worse than for others. Naruto didn't have any parents for one. True, he wasn't the only orphan in the Academy, but in his case he was already a bit of an outcast compared to the standard orphan. The only real contact he had with others outside the Academy were the Sandaime, the father/daughter duo from Ichiraku's Ramen Bar, and the occasional crossing of paths when he went out to the training fields. The fact that anyone else he could try to turn to for help would probably turn a blind eye on his woes didn't help much either.

Unfortunately for Naruto also: Ami and Takezo's team used the same training field that the Sandaime had him assigned too. Since he wasn't a Shinobi he couldn't use all the training fields, but he HAD gotten permission to use one… the one Team Mitarashi used…

It wasn't everyday that the Uzumaki ran into the duo but still often enough that he had asked the Sandaime for a new area to train at.

The day his Bloodline activated was one of those days… turned terribly wrong.

As usual the sun kissed boy was out in the wooded area, today focusing on his Kata's for the Academy Style of fighting. It was a vastly inferior style to those used by the clan's, but it was all he had. One of the instructors had actually tried to teach him the style improperly once… but he wasn't stupid enough to do the style differently than what the OTHER twenty students using the style did. But I digress.

He was training in the wooded area when he heard the voices. A girl was talking calmly while boy's voice could clearly be heard screaming in pain. Running over the boy hid in the bush's, not knowing what he would see. Would it be missing nin? Or a training accident gone wrong?

No; it was an assault. Takezo was standing there grinning manically as Ami sat on top of a young boys chest. The silver haired boy was screaming at the top of his lungs, his round glasses broken in half and the glass shattered all over. It was the knife point being dragged across his bared chest that made the boy yell though.

The blond was sickened. He remembered the boy from one of his earlier classes two years ago. Ami and Takezo's teammate: Kabuto.

"What did she think she would accomplish?" he would later ask himself when he next met the tortured genin, and mere hours from now he would think "What did I think I would accomplish?"

Grabbing one of his kunai the boy leapt from his hiding spot, rushing past the intimidating older boy and tackled Ami off of Kabuto's chest, trying to hit her with the ringed pommel of the tool. He managed to get flipped over and found a boot in his back and his arm being pulled up in a most painful manner.

"Fucking brat!" the girl yelled, quickly twisting his arm and making his shoulder scream out in main.

Naruto could feel the pain, the pressure slowly rising, _'She's going to dislocate it!'_ he realized, preparing himself for the pain that never came.

Her words were muffled to him, but Takezo was following her orders when he came up and lifted his great block of wood that he called a bokken. No, Ami wasn't going to hurt him, she was going to KILL him! As he watched the wood come down he was suddenly jerked away by his arm painfully, as Ami was tackled away once more, this time by Kabuto. A loud cracking resonated through the clearing.

Looking up the child saw Kabuto wrestling indignantly with the smaller girl, his leg bent an awkward angle and a slight bulge in the middle of his shin, while the much bigger kenjutsu used marched towards him, a terrible grin on his face. With a wordless shout the boy brought the stick down and Naruto his hands up. A loud cracking coming about once more, this time as the bokken broke, having landed on the sturdy metal that covered the Uzumaki's arms.

Both of them looked dumbfounded at the shiny blue-grey chains that covered the nine year olds arms, until Naruto reacted and jumped up, clothslining the older boy with on of his now much bigger and heavier arms, getting a satisfying crackle and choking sound. Thinking quickly he unraveled his 'chains' and tied the other boy up. As he secured him the adrenaline began to fade and the chains still on his arms disappeared, retreating slowly into his palms where they had apparently come from.

At some point when he was working the chain had separated from itself and he was able to knot the chain shut, watching amusedly as the chain seemed to tighten itself of its own accord…

And then, when he realized what had happened and the last of the chains slithered into his palms Naruto stopped and stared at his hands.

"YATTA! I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT!" the blue eyed boy said jumping up and hugging the silver haired genin as he tied up Ami in wire, clearly having disabled her while grappling.

The other boy smiled in bewilderment, offering congratulations before wincing in pain and` getting dragged off to the hospital by the blond, where shortly after they reported Ami and Takezo.

At age ten he decided to wait the extra year to graduate instead of taking the test early once more

He truly felt it was for the best. He still didn't know the Basic Three, his Taijutsu was subpar at best, and while his accuracy was fairly decent he was, to put it lightly, failing the academic's portion of his education.

Naruto realized he had been putting too much time into his personal interest. While the training he was doing _was_ important, his school work wasn't improving and he would never be graded on his skills with the Uzumaki's Special Chakra, or the Chakra Chains as it was also known.

Well… not entirely true: No he would never be tested on it, but he _had_ been able to help his school work a little. After all, now he could use the Kawarimi jutsu nearly perfectly and was close, he was sure, to figuring out how to move his chakra chains to do a Henge. It was slow going though; Chakra Chains would move where he wanted, how he wanted, and quite quickly, but they did _not_ like changing their shape.

It was like a blacksmiths puzzle. You look at it and it seems impossible, that the parts couldn't possibly be moved properly without breaking of bending them. Once you move it though, make it contort within its own parameters the puzzle would click, everything would fall into place and, most importantly in the case of the Uzumaki, you now knew the secret to the problem and could solve it with ease from there on.

But for the time being he would just keep practicing.

At age eleven Naruto failed to graduate from the academy.

For the last time…

**The opening chapter to a little idea that has been hopping around in my mind for a while. I have a million and one ideas for stories and no decent writing skills, so here you go, enjoy. If you want to use it or flesh it out more let me know so I can read the story. If you want I also have quite a bit of the Chakra Chains Kekkei Genkai planned out and will post it if you want.**


	2. Chapter 2 Legend Hidden in the Blood

Ok, to start I want to say that this is an incomplete story, though I do have several chapters already done: like six more. I wouldn't mind it if someone adopted this, cause I have a billion little ideas and I don't really write them out except for the backgrounds. If someone wants it or wishes to enquire about any other ideas shoot me a message and I'll just give the stuff I made up for it to you.

Universal Story Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Naruto: Shippuden or any other unnamed but already copyrighted material herein.

Chapter 1: In the Blood

"Bastard!" yelled Naruto, holding his friend in his arms as he slowly faded from conciseness, hundreds of needles sticking from his legs and arms and, more importantly, his neck, "Why? Why did you do it?!"

"How the hell should I know…" he gasped out, looking on his blond friend with his Sharingan eyes. "My legs just moved on their own." And with that he passed out, never seeing the other boy's eyes turn a dark red.

This was the Battle of the Bridge, as it would later be known, where Uzumaki Naruto unlocked a power long forgotten… a power from a time of legends.

It had started as a simple C-Ranked Mission, meaning the most danger there would be would be from bandits and petty thugs, a mission that had been given to three rookie Shinobi, Genin, and their teacher. However it didn't take long for the group of four Shinobi to learn that their client had lied to them. Right from the start of things they had been attacked by Shinobi, two Chuunin brothers who felt confident enough in their abilities to attack the group not an hour out from Konoha, the greatest of the Shinobi Villages.

Attacking with a poisoned chain and claw combo they tried to attacked the man, Tazuna, injuring one of the Genin, Uzumaki Naruto, in the process. The three students refused to turn back though, mostly out of pride, and their teacher, believing he could protect them from any harm, agreed. While in itself not the smartest decision the man had made, he would have been right, had it only been Chuunin ranked Shinobi. All too soon did they meet the error of their ways; the Demon of the Bloody Mist Village, Momochi Zabuza.

Although the small team had one of the most infamous Shinobi ever produced by Konoha, Hatake Kakashi, leading them the fight that ensured was brutal and nearly ended when Copy-Nin Kakashi, as he was known, was captured by Zabuza. If not for the quick thinking and skill of Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke the day might have been lost. But luck was with them and they managed to free Kakashi, who in turn was able to defeat Zabuza.

Before the final strike could land though the body was immobilized and taken by a hidden partner. Over the course of the next week the three Genin trained, waiting for their teacher to heal and preparing for another fight with Zabuza and his partner, one that insured, seven days after their first fight. The fight had started out on a positive, Sasuke was fighting with Zabuza's partner, Kakashi with Zabuza, and Haruno Sakura was guarding the client. Naruto, meanwhile, was rescuing the client's family and then rushed to the aide of Sasuke.

Sasuke, while doing well, had the unfortunate luck to be fighting a Shinobi with a Kekkei Genkai, one that granted the young girl power over water and ice. All too soon he was fighting a losing battle, surrounded and outclassed in terms of speed. Unfortunately even the arrival of Naruto their plight seemed impossible to overcome, that is, until Sasuke awoke the power of his clan, the fabled Sharingan. For a short time it seemed that the doejutsu would tip things in their favor, only for Haku to trick them.

Focusing her attack on a weakened Naruto, Haku knew either Sasuke would protect the boy, and become the victim himself or Naruto would be taken out, either way leaving her with one opponent. Sasuke did indeed take the attack, and looked upon Naruto, his Sharingan still active.

It was now, in this moment of sadness and anger and grief that Naruto awoke his hidden power his body and, though Sasuke did not see it, his eyes burned with the might in the Sharingan in them.

"Tell me," asked Haku standing and walking to one of her ice mirrors after seeing the boy's body seemingly spasm in grief, "Is this the first time you've lost a comrade in battle? This is the way Shinobi!"

"Shut up." He said in a near whisper.

"He died to protect you!"

"I said SHUT UP! I WONT FORGIVE YOU!" and with that the boy looked up, showing the same red and black eyes as Sasuke, only one tomoe around each of the pupils. Jumping towards his enemy he attacked, throwing a barrage of punches that were blocked.

'_Dammit! They were both Uchiha?! What are the odds of them both activating the Sharingan at the same time?'_ the girl thought to herself, finding it increasingly hard to keep up with the boy, _"The Hyoton used too much of my chakra, I can't keep up with him much longer…'_ Blocking another strike Haku caught Naruto's hand in her own. Watching the boy suddenly spasm she took the opportunity to kick him, sending the boy back.

They had moved quite a ways from Sasuke's body by this point, and were nearer to Sakura and Tazuna, the faint sound of Kakashi and Zabuza talking in the background. "Fine then, if I cannot defeat you Naruto, then I will take the bridge builder and leave."

Naruto sat there, struggling to his feet, and watched as the Hunter nin made hand signs, everything seemed to slow for a second and his attention split between processing the words and looking at the hand seals, _'Tazuna?… but… She's going after Sakura!'_ even with the Sharingan though he was too slow. He was up and running for Sakura as soon as the other girl finished the last hand sign, "Hyoton: Makyo Hyoyari." With that the water, which covered the ground by now, started exploding upwards into jagged spikes, racing towards Sakura and Tazuna faster than Naruto.

Running the boy followed his instincts and reached out to them in a desperate motion. It was to everyone's surprise when the ice went around the duo, rather than through them. Stopping Naruto looked down at his hands before glaring up at Haku again, who had fallen to one knee.

'_I, I've failed you Zabuza-Sama.'_ "Please… before you kill me," she began to ask, the boy looking up at her strangely, "who are you? You are not from my clan and no one else could command ice like you just did…"

Walking up to her Naruto started talking, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I am a Shinobi of Konoha! As a Shinobi, it's my job to defend the Leaf Village from any who oppose it and to avenge the deaths of my comrades." Here he started to cry and yelled at the girl, "But, killing you won't bring Sasuke back to life!"

Hearing this Sakura looked up, eyes wide and tears immediately started streaming down her face, "Naruto…" she whispered, "Tazuna… come on, we need to get away from the fight and I-" She stopped here, choking on her words.

Tazuna looked at the girl, feeling bad that he had gotten any of them into this mess. "I got it, come on."

"You must kill me!" she insisted, "I am a useless to Zabuza-sama, not worthy of being used. If you do not kill me then what purpose do I serve?"

"No!" he said in a savage voice, "There will be no more bloodshed today, not if I can help it!" In the background Zabuza and Kakashi's conversation died out completely.

"Serving and helping Zabuza is my only purpose in life, without him I would be nothing, starving and dying on the streets. If you will not kill me then I have only one other option." She said sadly, listening as the chirping of birds filled the air. "Before I die though, you should know you're a very special person Naruto… no one else would have been able to copy two Kekkei Genkai's." And with that she formed an ice mirror, jumping towards the other fight on the bridge.

Naruto couldn't stop her, only rush to see the damage. For the first time since the fight had started he saw her face, the mask having been jarred loose from the force of Kakashi's attack. _'But, but she's the one I met the other day!'_ he thought to himself, watching as Zabuza tried to attack Kakashi again, nearly cutting through Haku's body to do so, only to have Kakashi dodge bringing the girl with him.

"You bastard!" yelled the young Genin, "How could you even think about cutting through Haku like that, like she was some kind of tool for you to use!"

"Shut it kid! Haku knew her purpose and died how she wanted to." He said as he stared Kakashi down, "That's all Shinobi are; tools. We fight and we kill wherever the highest bidder points us to."

"How right you are Momochi-san, how oh so right you are!" came a greasy voice from the end of the bridge. When they turned to look, all save Kakashi, they saw a short man standing in front of a group of at least a hundred men, all carrying weapons of some sort, whether it is a simple sword or a giant scythe. "Well, at least that one got what was coming." He said point to Haku's body, "Squeezed my arm till it broke."

"Gato, what's the meaning of this?" asked the Demon,

"Well, you see there's been a change of plans. Really I had been planning to do this from the beginning. Did you _really_ believe I was going to pay you twenty million Ryo for a simple bridge builder?"

"Why you!" yelled Naruto, still angry and sad at Haku's death.

"Enough Naruto!" was Kakashi, "Look at their numbers, you wouldn't stand a chance. Well Zabuza, looks like our fight if done and I even left you an arm!"

"What! No, this guy's still _my_ enemy! That girl there, she died for you, she would have done anything for you. She died because she cared about you, she said she would do anything for you because you were the only reason she wasn't dead or dying on the streets! She cared for you an all you could think about is using her! How can you live with yourself? Huh?" Naruto himself was crying now, "How can you just stay so cold like that? Is this what a Shinobi is, a tool? If I get to be as strong as you is this what I'll become? She gave up her life for you, without a dream of her own! She loved you that much…"

"Enough kid!" was all he said, looking anyplace but at Naruto, "You need say no more. It pained her to fight you, she was too kind." Turning he looked right at Naruto, taking in his eyes, the Sharingan still blazing, "Yeah kid… you may be right. A Shinobi's still a human and… even I'm not an emotionless tool. I loved her too kid, but helping me's what made her happy, so I did all that I could, so she could help me…I guess I only have one thing left before the day is done."

With those words he lifted up his sword with his one good arm and charged right into Gato's men.

"Come here Naruto. Watch him; this is how a Shinobi lives."

Together the two of them watched Zabuza as he carved a path through the men, killing all of them in his way, till he finally decapitated Gato himself. He left none living.

About half way through Naruto heard something that made him turn, "Sasuke!"

"He made it Naruto!" yelled Sakura, looking up at the boy briefly, "Oh Sasuke, I'm so happy!"

"Hehe, well Kakashi-sensei, it looks like we all made it!" he said looking up at the silver haired Jounin, his left eye covered once more. Under his mask he was smiling, until he looked down at Naruto.

"Naruto? What happened to your eyes?" he asked worriedly, leaning down to look at them closer, not believing what he was seeing, "Naruto, you… do you have any goggles or sun glasses?" he said quickly.

"Huh? Yeah, I got my Goggles in my pack here." And with that he reached around inside his kunai pack pulling out a pair of goggles he hadn't worn in nearly two months.

"Um, put them on and… do you usually carry useless stuff in your weapon's holster? No, never mind just put them on."

Mumbling to himself about strange sensei's he asked the man, "What's the big deal? My eyesight's perfect!"

Looking the boy over he sighed when he couldn't see the eyes themselves, "Well it's not every day that someone develops a bloodline that belongs to another clan, especially when that clan is the Uchiha."

"The Uchiha, you mean Sasuke's clan? But, what do you mean?" he asked, confused.

Looking down at the boy he told him, "Naruto, I believe you have a bloodline, a very powerful and dangerous one… one that I have seen in only one other person before." And then it began to snow.

-two weeks later

Naruto sat before a grave, looking down at the simple wooden cross. Around the top of it was Haku's scarf, at the base her mask sat beside a bowl of offerings. Behind him stood Kakashi and Sakura, Sasuke was still recovering from both the death like state and chakra exhaustion.

"Kakashi-sensei?" asked the pink haired girl, "Is what Haku believed true, are we just tools… I know that, in the end, even Zabuza said we are humans, but… What if they were right from the beginning?"

The silver haired jonin sighed, "Well, yes and no. We are human, but a shinobi's job is to become a tool for the village above all else. That's true even for Konoha."

With that they all just sat there in quiet, even Naruto had nothing so say.

"Well, I'm going to check on Sasuke-kun. Are you coming Naruto?"

Looking up at her through the goggles he smiled, "No thanks Sakura-chan, I'm going to stay here for a little while longer."

"Oh, all right." And with that she was gone.

Long minutes went by before Kakashi turned to leave, "So are you just going to ignore this sensei?" asked the blond, causing his teacher to stop in place, "Well? It's been two weeks, the first two days after the bridge you looked at my eyes and did a few medical jutsu and gave me a few things to practice, but since then you haven't said a word to me, choosing to read that book of yours instead." Standing up the boy took off his goggles and stared at the jounin, the Sharingan blazing in his eyes, "Well? What do you know, Why can't I turn them off, why do I have a Sharingan when _you_ said I have no Uchiha's in my family history? For that matter why do I have Haku's?"

"So," Kakashi responded in a disinterested voice, "You still haven't been able to turn them off." It was a statement, not a question, "And what about the other one, what were you able to do with that one?"

Glad that he at least got the man to talk with him, he answered, "Well I did the different exercises you told me to do, from hardest to easiest and well… I was able to control water pretty well, though I did have to concentrate with hand seals to do it. As for the ice part I was… well for lack of a better term, less than bad. I mean I froze it, mostly, but it took a lot of concentration to do it without a justu."

"And the only person we knew who could have taught you is dead. Well, go on. What about the Sharingan exercises?"

At this Naruto's eyes narrowed, "Well, I will admit it I can see a change, but it's so small that I might not have noticed it otherwise. But my fights with my clones go on longer, went I move fast I was able to see things out of the corner of my eyes I would have missed, and I was able to see through my regular clones like they weren't even there. Hell, the fact that I was able to make clones speaks for itself."

Kakashi shook his head at that last part, "No, in order for a person's ability in Genjustu to increase because of the Sharingan it must be there in the first place. Most likely it was the tree climbing exercise I had you do. Now that you're _able_ to use less chakra the clones are making it."

"Well what about my Transformation jutsu?" he asked with a small frown, "That's a Genjutsu, right?" this time the man laughed.

"Naruto, I don't know where you learned what you've been calling the Transformation jutsu, but the technique you've been using is call the Shape Shifting Jutsu. It allows you to actually transform into something, rather than into an illusion of something. Since you've been on my team you haven't used a single Genjustu. Sakura and Sasuke haven't noticed because they aren't trained to spot it yet.

"As to why you barely notice the change with the Sharingan is twofold: First, because you have a single Tomoe in each eye, meaning it is the lowest of the lows as far as that bloodline is concerned." Hearing this actually made Naruto's shoulders sulk a bit, "Second is because how strongly you have the bloodline, which is very weak. As of right now, if I were to compare your eyes to Sasuke's his are probably twice as good, maybe even better." And the shoulders fell the rest of the way.

"Don't feel bad Naruto, it's not because of anything with you, Sasuke's eyes are very strong compared to the other Uchiha's were. When I first got this eye of mine it was at the point you are now, and that was with two Tomoe. But, just as will happen with you and Sasuke both, the more I used the eye the better it became, and each new Tomoe will simply multiply that progress."

Naruto just sat there and thought about what his sensei told him, "So, sensei, since you're like me, and can't turn it off…"

"Nope," he said, nodding, "I always have the eye active but it's not training my eye, only if it's actually _using_ it. As for the big question though," he started, getting the younger boy to look up eager to know, "you have a Kekkei Genkai of your own. One that I have only seen in a single person. I don't know the name of it but it grants the ability to copy the powers of others. I believe you have it weaker than anyone in your family history ever has."

"HEY!" Naruto yelled, getting a chuckle from the other man.

"Oh, don't worry, I doubt being able to copy bloodlines, even if it's a weak version of the ability, is a bad thing. And I want to help you… at a price." He ended evilly.

His eyes narrowing down to slits, the boy asked, "What price?" more afraid to hear it than anything.

Crouching down to be eye level with the boy Kakashi spoke, "Here's the deal, I'll keep your secret from everyone, even the Hokage, and I'll help you master your bloodline and any others you might pick up. My price is that you _must_ tell me everything you can figure out about the bloodlines and let me monitor your progression with each one. Oh, and you have to tell me whenever you get a new one."

To himself Naruto couldn't help but think the man seemed awfully excited about all of this, "So what's in it for you?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well, once we gather enough information I want to publish the research." The man said bluntly, "With this eye of mine I'm living proof that bloodline theft is possible, in fact I've done much research on the subject myself on behalf of the Hokage. With the data you can help provide we can take another step forward into bloodlines. Clans very rarely part with information on their Kekkei Genkai, with you we can potentially bypass them."

Looking at the man he didn't _know_ what to think, _'It doesn't seem like that bad of a deal… why not? He is my sensei.'_

"Deal!" he said, putting an arm out to Kakashi, who grasped it with an evil smile, knowing exactly what was going to happen.

As soon as their skin met Naruto started to spasm, Kakashi holding on for the full two seconds as it happened. Listening to Naruto's explanation of the battle he realized that when Naruto gained the bloodlines, by touching the bloodline user, he had a spasm. That would be the first thing he would show Naruto, as it could easily get him killed.

"What. The. HELL!" he said, immediately jumping into Kakashi's face, "What was that?"

"Well, that would be you gaining another bloodline." He said casually, "You see, when you told me about the fight I connected some dots. You yourself mentioned that you were, let's see: _'Shaking with anger'_ when you thought Sasuke was dead, the only point when you could have stolen it. Then, when you were fighting Haku and she caught a punch, you said you suddenly started shaking for no reason. That would have been when you took her bloodline. It's when you touch someone. Just now I touched you because I wanted to test my theory and I felt that you would benefit from my bloodline."

"You got a Kekkei Genkai? What is it?" he asked eagerly, showing more emotion than he had in the past two weeks.

'_Was starting to worry about the brat for a few days there.'_ "Yes, I have bloodline, a minor one, but still. It's called the Jinton or Swift Release! It lets- hey, why are you laughing?" indeed the boy was laughing, rolling on the ground because of the name, something he let Kakashi know at great lengths.

"Everyone's a critic."

It was later that night when Naruto snuck out of the small house by the sea, making his way down to the docks to sit and think for a while. Looking up at the nights sky he couldn't help but remember that this was their last night here. _'The skies are never this beautiful in Konoha.' _ Indeed Konoha had fallen prey to technology in the past fifty years, the roads lit by electric lights that made the whole village glow. It had the unfortunate side effect of blocking out the stars.

Right now the boy wanted to think, try and get everything in his head straightened out. _'Well, for starters I got a bloodline!'_ Yes, he did. One that was very powerful, giving him the ability to steal other bloodlines. Already he had three, the Sharingan, the Hyoton, and the Jinton, which was pretty cool, despite the name.

The Swift Release, he preferred Jinton, was named by Kakashi's father, a powerful man who first discovered the bloodline. It granted the user heightened reflexes and reaction time by increasing the electric pulses in the body and then decreasing wind resistance around them. It also gave the possessor a natural lightning Affinity. Kakashi was amazingly aided by it, saying it let his body react better to the Sharingan, so he could keep up with his own eye.

The Hyoton or Ice release, was an alternative element, combing Wind and Water to form Ice. The fact that it granted an amazing tolerance to cold and a natural _water_ affinity was just a bonus. Well, that's what Zabuza had said before he left, staying a full week after Haku's death to heal up a little.

Then there was the Sharingan. According to Kakashi it would get stronger the more he used it, eventually getting to the state that the copy nin himself had it at. Increased eyesight, copying and memorization abilities, the power to see chakra and see though genjutsu, and lastly a time slowdown, letting him see things in slow motion basically. It was in its weakest form right now and pretty weak at that, he barely noticed anything at all.

Unfortunately his _naturally _occurring bloodline seemed to be weak too, as he couldn't turn off the Sharingan. If Kakashi was right then he would be unable to turn off any of his bloodlines, or at least the ones that turn on and off. This wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't for the fact that Konoha was in love with its bloodlines and nearly every clan possessed one. Within two months he would be talking to bugs and dogs and seeing through walls and who knows what else, since the clans never talked about exactly WHAT their bloodlines were.

It was all so confusing and in addition to all this he would have to start playing guinea pig for Kakashi, who wanted to publish literature about bloodlines for some odd reason.

"You know what, fuck it all! I'm gunnna use this! Yeah, I'll show them I'm the greatest Shinobi who ever lived! I'll gather as many bloodlines as I can and train them all. That's it, from the minute I get home I start training, I can use water, ice, and lightning now so I'll train with them all, and find some chakra techniques like the one sensei showed us for training! The more I use the Sharingan the better it gets so I'll just start training all the time, a thousand clones a day to get that and the Jinton stronger. It's not that I can't turn them off, it's that I'm able to always keep them on!"

Quieter, to himself he whispered, "And I'll do it all for you Haku, for you, Oji-san, Iruka, and Ayame and old man Teuchi too! Believe it, because that's my ninja way, _my_ Way of the Shinobi!"

And with that Naruto stood up and walked to the beach, trying to remember the Kata's they had been taught in the Academy.


	3. Chapter 3 Uzumaki Rising

Uzumaki Rising- Chapter 1

Summery- In light of the battle at the bridge Kakashi must make a choice between two students and the birth of a legend comes forth from the ashes of his decision.

What would happen if Haku and Zabuza were a touch more jaded and determined? What happens when a sensei must choose between the life of one student and the career of another when Konoha cannot afford to lose either of them?

_Last time- _Our story starts on a isolated island known as the Land of Waves. The islands, which has been taken over by the Gato Corporation, has been trying to free itself for years and has finally gotten it's chance with the building of a great bridge that would end Gato's strangle hold over the shipping to island as well as help increase trade with the Great Nation that houses Konohagakure, the Shinobi Village Hidden in the Leaves. But in order for the bridge to be finished Tazuna, the man heading the effort, has needed to hire Shinobi to protect his life. Thus enter our hero's Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi. After several small encounters with opposing Shinobi the group finds themselves locked into fierce combat with the Missing-nin, Momochi Zabuza, and his apprentice, a young boy named Haku, dressed as a Hunter nin. With Sakura protecting Tazuna, Kakashi facing off against the swordsman Zabuza, and Naruto and Sasuke facing the ice wielding Haku, what will be the result? Naruto is down and Haku is closing in on him… will he fall?!

It happened in a flash, one second he was drooping, feeling rather weak from the numerous senbon protruding from his body, the next he saw the boy flash towards him. Unlike the other times he had attacked the boy jumped out of one of the multitude of mirrors straight at one of them, the senbon in his hand being of metal, not ice, glistening with a foul green liquid.

As the boy dressed as a hunter nin rushed towards him the world seemed to slow down, letting him pick up on these small tidbits of information. It wasn't sight like that granted by a Sharingan, it was the sight of death fast approaching.

And almost two feet away from him a second figure rushed in, taking a precise blow to the neck before he kicked his foe, sending them flying away in a heap.

"Sa-Sasuke!" he managed to get out.

"What's with that face moron?" the taller raven haired boy asked, choking on his blood a little, the red of his Sharingan eyes tilting towards Naruto.

The blue eyed boy looked at the Uchiha in fright, "Why?" he asked, his mind racing with thoughts of all the things the two had shared together over the years. It might not always have been pleasant, but they were comrades-in-arms, fellow Leaf-nin.

"Pft…! I hated you…" the last of the Uchiha gasped as he began to fall backwards.

"But… but… Why..? Why me?" he asked at the falling preteen, jumping forwards and grabbing him before he hit the ground, "I NEVER ASKED FOR YOUR HELP!" he screamed, a feeling of anger and sorrow and hate and fear burrowing their way to the surface.

"I don't know. My body just moved on its own… Naruto…" Was Sasuke's answer as his eyes grew glassy and distant, "That man… My brother… I told myself I wouldn't die until I killed him… Don't die also…" and with that Sasuke Uchiha closed his eyes, seemingly dead to the world.

Their foe, the boy dressed in a hunter-nin mask and robes, slowly began to rise up, speaking to Naruto as he did so, "He knocked me away and took that blow without flinching… Knowing it was a trap. He died to protect you." Fully standing once more he jumped backwards into one of the many mirrors that surrounded the area, ensnaring the younger genin and helping the older boy, "It is said that the measure of a Shinobi is taken not in how they live, but how they die. He is truly deserving of respect. This is the Shinobi way…"

"Shut up!" came the harsh whisper from the Uzumaki, feeling anger and hate and rage right below the surface, ready to breakthrough, an indomitable heat right ready to rise. All around him he could feel something burning, a red light flickering on and off, surrounding him. His eyes settled on a bloody red color, while his incisors and nails both grew in length.

The boy, Haku, watched from his mirrors as the blond child began to stand up, the senbon of ice melting, _'The cuts on his hand's…! They're healing!'_ he thought to himself silently, _'What is this child?'_

It was then that Naruto turned around, showing off his red eyes and the bestial appearance his face had taken, yelling at the Hyoton user in an animalistic voice, **"I'll **_**kill**_** you!" **

Not long after the boy bunched up and jumped towards the mirror that Haku had hidden himself in, the killing intent practically being a physical presence rather than mental for the way it weighed down on all on the bridge.

The hunter nin launched three more senbon at the blond child, only for them to be cast aside by an animal like roar that pushed out his chakra, amazing the robed figure in the mirror's, who's only outwards response was to jump to the mirror above Naruto, coming down with the intent to end the fight with a fatal blow to the back of the head.

But the hyperaware Uzumaki felt his foes intent, pushing one arm against the ground to spin hismself away before landing on his feet and launching towards Haku once more, latching onto the masked Kiri-nin's arm.

What came next couldn't even be described as a jutsu, simply an unleashing of the demonic power that rushed through his veins. The sheer force of the Youki being released from his body managed to crack the mirrors and make the small cut on the front of the Hunter-nin's mask spread across the full front of the face.

Acting quickly, despite the pain and weight of the chakra flooding his body, Haku pulled free one of his Senbon, trying unsuccessfully to pierce the boy's heart, managing to only hit a lung.

Shocked by the sudden pain in his chest the young Jinchuriki lifted a leg and gave an extra powered kick to his needle wielding foe, sending them through one of the ice mirrors.

Running out of the now collapsing dome of mirrors Naruto ran for his foe, who was slowly beginning to stand, only for his body to be stopped mid leap by a wall of ice that appeared at the Kiri Shinobi's command.

The ice barrier did not stand up long to the juggernaut that was Uzumaki Naruto though, and it too was soon gone, allowing the Berserker through to his waiting enemy.

As soon as the ice shattered Haku launched his attack, a much more blunt but necessary attack of jaded icicles, one after another, each being bashed away one by one, save for the second last and last, one of which caught the boy in the leg, the other in the chest right below the shoulder, making him spin away, howling in pain.

The attack pushed back the feral genin, but it did not stop him, as all too soon the ice melted under the intense heat of the red youki, the wounds healing quickly with the demonic energy that had flooded the young boy's body.

As he stood up once more though his foe, who had been going through a set of long hand seals to try and end the fight, looked away from Naruto, the sound of birds chirping filling the air. The boy knew what it meant.

"**Don't look away from me MURDERER!"** he yelled at the distracted Shinobi, rushing towards him, only for his prey to rush away, heading towards the other fight that had been happening on the bridge, between the Konoha Jounin Hatake Kakashi and Momochi Zabuza, the Nuke-nin formerly from Kirigakure. **"Oh no you don't! Get back here!"**

With that yell the Jinchuriki through his right hand forwards, using instinct to expand the demon's chakra into an extension of his arm, only barely substantial enough to grasp onto the hunter-nin's arm.

Haku had only just made it to the Jounin's fight and was about to throw himself in the way of the deadly attack when an intense fire wrapped itself around his left arm, pulling him back and only giving him enough time to push his losing master a touch out of the way Kakashi's lightning covered fist. His efforts failed to save Zabuza who received a Raikiri to the lungs instead. It wouldn't be immediately fatal, but the missing-nin would not survive the hour.

Now being pulled towards the enemy that had prevented him from saving Zabuza, Haku formed a senbon of ice from his chakra. Both of them, Hunter-nin and Jinchuriki planned to end the fight for good with their next blows, Naruto jumping towards his foe who was prone in midair, Haku soaring straight towards his chosen target, the two of them releasing guttural roars from their throats as they met, drawing the attention of everyone on the bridge as they did so now that the mist had cleared:

"_**DIE!"**_

And like that the fight was over, two unmoving bodies lying upon their backs on the wet stone of the bridge, one with a gaping hole where his heart had been, the other with a Senbon of ice plunged through one eye and out the other but still breathing.

Off to one side a bridge builder could be heard vomiting while a young girl yelled out Naruto's name.

On the other side the two Jounin watched the scene, one with a feral grin, the other of wide eyed horror, the likes of which only grew as he looked farther back, seeing the form of his final student lying still amongst the shattered ice. "Sasuke, Naruto… What have I done…?" He whispered to himself, only being distracted by the coughing chuckles of his near dead foe.

"I don't know what's worse Kakashi." Zabuza said, standing as much as he could, "The loss of Konoha's precious Sharingan, or it's only human weapon?" seeing the shocked look he received from Kakashi he explained, managing to throw up blood while he did so, "Oh yes, I know all about the Jinchuriki… I tried to, hurghk, to slay… Yagura.. after all."

After another minute of coughing though he had one final piece of advice though, "Of course… You only _need_ to lose one… Haku was a… a failure… in the end. You see, he was… was always too precise. The Uchiha… the Uchiha is most likely not yet dead. In… in fact, you might even be able to save him if you rush him to Konoha…" here he broke into coughs once more before continuing, "the boy is likely in a deathlike state, but also poisoned… The poison _could_ be stopped… in Konoha. _But_ by the time you get him there and back… by then the boy will be permanently blind. Or you can take those eyes… those Sharingan eye's and heal the Jinchuriki… while damning the Uchiha…" looking up at Kakashi, his eyes already beginning to glass over, Zabuza imparted two final words before falling off into incoherency, "Your choice…"

With that a shriek came from the young girl who had come up behind Kakashi, hearing the evil words of the dying man. As the explanation had gone on her eyes had become more and more moist until she could bear no more and her face tore into a ugly show of her rage and madness. Kunai in hand she ran forward, her pink hair flying behind her as she passed her sensei and dug into the dying mans throat with the Shinobi tool, lifting it up and down, pounding it into the dead man's neck and upper chest over and over again.

'_Not Sasuke! Not Naruto! No! __**NOoo!**__' _her fragile psyche yelled before another voice came forth as well,_'He's going to make Kakashi choose, make US choose between them!'__ 'It's not fair, it's not fair!' __'Make him pay Sakura-chan, make him and all of them PAY! For Naruto and Sasuke-Kun!'_

Finally pulling away from the mound of flesh that had once been Momochi Zabuza she sat down crying into her arms, pulling herself into a tight ball.

It all should have ended then… Save for Gato. The tycoon and his hired mercenaries had landed on the bridge shortly after Kakashi had struck Zabuza with his Raikiri, staring in quiet awe at what they had seen: Naruto and Haku's blows and Sakura savaging Zabuza's corpse. They were all a little off put by the displays, all save Gato, who merely began to clap.

More than one of the ronin and mercenaries questioned the sanity of their employer at that moment, a fear that was more than justified.

"Very well done Konoha!" said the diminutive man, still clapping, "I couldn't have done better with my own men, in fact I could have done a lot worse than what you managed to do! I'm impressed. And I see that you made that one pay." He said, pointing his cane towards were Naruto and Haku lay, "At least he managed to take out two of you Konoha Bastards, that orange _freak_ and the little bastard with the fan on his back."

'_Make them suffer Sakura-chan… Make them __**bleed**__!'_ came the voice from Sakura's head, making the green eyed girl stiffen and look up at Gato coldly.

"The little fucks never stood a chance."

'_The blood so red, so red, so sweet,'_ her subconscious began to sing, recalling from a book they had read long ago.

'_Sweet screams pretty screams…'_ she follows, staring off before snapping back, _'I want them to suffer!'_ she thinks to herself, looking down at her bloodied kunai… it was too small, too weak.

Her inner voice practically giggled, giving her a mental nudge, _'The sword…!'_

While Sakura was fighting with her own reality and her world falling down around her; Kakashi was looking down at the grave situation, his mind stuck between which of his students to save, _'Dammit Zabuza! I can't fight them all and save those boys. Who do I save? How do I protect them all?'_ when Gato had showed up with his men though he cursed once more, _'I don't have time for this… if I save Sasuke, Naruto will lose any chance of being a Shinobi, if I save Naruto's eyes then I lose Sasuke's _life!_ Without Sasuke though we simply lose the Sharingan_… _Without Naruto we lose a Jinchuriki… the strongest of the nine too…! But… but I _can_ save both for Konoha… Kami protect me, I'm sorry Obito! But you and Minato-sensei would both do what was best for Konoha even if it meant breaking the promise of a lifetime!'_

With his dilemma nearly solved he turned to fix their other problem, only to find it half solved and what appeared to be his last student running to her death, the sword of The Demon of the Mist in hand, "**SAKURA!"**

'_The Sword…!'_ her inner voice had cried, seeing the large Zanbato known as Kubikiri Hōchō.

Immediately her mind flew to the practicality of the weapon, _'It's too large, I would never be able to lift it!'_ she argued, getting immediately and completely rebuffed by her inner psyche.

'_GOD DAMN IT SAKURA-CHAN! Why do you have to be so weak, why do you have to hold us back so much?!'_ her mind screamed at her, making her wither inside, '_Just pick it up! Remember what they taught us at the academy? Focus your chakra into your limbs and let it make you fast…'_

'_Let it make you stronger'_ she finished for herself, _'Focus on the muscles as you bring your chakra from your center to your extremities.'_ Placing one of her small hands on the large weapon she concentrated, letting her life-force flow through her.

The first time she tried to lift it, Kubikiri Hōchō was still too heavy. Focusing more chakra made it so that she could lift the weapon. Slowly standing behind her sensei she hefted the large tool, grasping it with both hands.

'_Hn… So top heavy? But that doesn't mean it won't work!' _her inner Sakura said, helping her focus her chakra even farther, _'Remember what the boy did at the beginning of his fight with Sasuke-Kun?'_

Nodding to herself the girl looked at her enemies.

Sakura nearly dropped the large weapon, each of them… they all seemed to carry the face of Zabuza!

'_No… No, We killed him….NO!'_ she mentally screamed to herself, her other half seeming to be enraged by the sight, _'Make them bleed Sakura! Make them __**suffer!**__ Zabuza… he still hasn't suffered enough!_'

Once more the pink haired girls face twisted into an ugly visage and she ran forward, a blood curdling scream emitting from her throat, ignoring the frightened calls from her sensei.

To the thugs on the bridge that day, it wasn't just a woman, or a girl that charged into their numbers. When they looked they saw a small child, covered in the blood of one of the most feared men in the region, wielding a weapon that was easily as big as herself, screaming out in wide eyed fury at the group, and all of that was after seeing this child decimate the remains of a fully grown Shinobi. And to compound all of their worries and fears at the sight of the girl was the mob of angry islanders who came into view behind her, promising them that even should they kill this _one_ child, there were many others willing to take her place.

To them it was not mere child… to them it was death personified on swift wings of vengeance.

Even Gato reacted badly, trying to push his way towards the back of the group of dumb muscle he had hired.

When she had gotten within twelve feet of the group she lowered the blade and began spinning, her arms extended, allowing he own inertia carry her forward and give more speed to her own spin.

Plowing into the group was a deadly affair of spilt blood and intestines, bones broken as often as they were cut, and a strange panic that gripped the group, making them topple each other over in a futile attempt to get away from the Raging Demon Child that flew through their ranks in a fit of revenge.

And when she had nearly reached Gato her arms wavered, the zanbato slicing into the ground right before his form, which had fallen into its stomach. Try as she might though the young kunoichi couldn't lift the giant meat cleaver from the ground.

'_**KILL HIM! Use our own two hands!'**_ her mind screamed out at her, both her conscious and subconscious plunging into the cold waters of insanity.

Lunging right next to them the pink haired girl jumped onto the fat little man, grabbing his head in her hands and slamming his face into the ground over and over again, his screams dying out after a minute of such harsh treatment.

Not long after her sensei looked down on her, striking her in the back of the neck, making one more shadow clone to carry her along with… the third and final of his genin to have fallen that day.

When Naruto woke he could see nothing, hear little, and felt as if the whole world was spinning around him. Memories of the last time he was awake spun through his head like a twisted merry-go-round of pain and death. Feeling bile rise up he turned onto his side, not able to stop his body from reacting so soon after being out of commission.

Shaking still, his mouth tasting of throw up, and the world spinning around him, he slowly lifted up his arms. Touching his hands to his eyes he could feel thick gauze and padding, his heartbeat rising at the sudden thought: _'Am I now blind?'_

Sitting up he could feel his world shift and his muscles protest. Not knowing where he was or what he could be running into he called out tentatively. "Kakashi-sensei? Sakura? Tazuna? HELLO?"

His worry was settled when his call was answered by the padding of feet, outside the room he assumed.

Hearing a door slide open and shut he looked towards the sound, trying to figure out who it was.

"Naruto, you're awake!" came the baritone voice of his teacher, "We were getting worried."

"Kaka-sensei? How long have I been out, what happened after I…?" he stopped here, the impact of what he did filtering through his mind.

"After you killed that Shinobi?" the Hatake finished for him, already predicting what the boy was feeling, "You did the right thing Naruto."

He was cut off from saying more by Naruto, "I know I did!" Naruto pushed in vehemently, "That _bastard_ killed Sasuke!"

"Yes… yes he did." Was Kakashi's response, "And you did your duty for Konoha, Tazuna-san, and Sasuke. But… Naruto, Sasuke… he isn't dead yet."

The words took a few seconds to _really_ sink in. At first he was happy, his heart feeling so much more lighter. The… anguish.

"_Yet,_ Kakshi-sensei?" was his friend suffering? How was he dying? Was this all one big joke from their teacher? When the man did not answer right away he asked again, "Kakashi-Sensei… What do you mean he isn't dead, _YET!?"_

Hearing a sigh from in front of him he could feel his heart tighten, a small knot getting even smaller, "The wounds Sasuke received were non lethal, in fact if it had just been the senbon he would have been fine already. The problem is that, unlike the other senbon that boy used during the battle, the ones he attacked Sasuke with were poisoned. It was a slow working poison, compared to what others in our profession use, allowing the victim time to live after it enters the bloodstream. Sasuke was poisoned about twenty hours ago, based on what I was able to figure out from his blood, he probably won't make it to daybreak."

The boy was at a loss for words, he didn't know what to say. After a few minutes he asked, "What happened to my eyes?" waiting silently his sensei's answer, not knowing if he _wanted_ to hear what he had to say.

"When you and that boy traded your final blows… You killed him and he… he _tried_ to kill you, but missed his target. Instead of your temple he struck your eyes."

"So I'm blind now?" the blond boy whispered, loud enough for only him and Kakashi to hear.

"Naruto… I had to make one of the hardest decisions in my life yesterday: Sasuke's life or your eyes… I lied to a dying child last night, making him think that I could not save his life when I could."

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing, he turned his head, 'looking' straight at where he heard Kakashi's voice coming from, "Kaka-Sensei? What did you do? You could have saved him?" he asked, desperate to ignore what he was hearing but unable to do so, "Sensei! I… I don't… you should have chose him!" he finally settled on.

"No Naruto… I couldn't." The boy could hear the sorrow and self loathing coming from the man, a small part of him feeling that the jounin deserved ever drop of it and then some. "Naruto… Sasuke was the last of a great bloodline, the last loyal member of one of the two founding families of Konoha… But in the eyes of the Elder Council of Konoha, he was more a Pariah than you were… for he was _just_ a Shinobi from a disgraced clan. You though… Naruto, the Council see's you as Konoha's Jinchuriki, our Super Soldier, a secret weapon to use in case of a war."

"What does that matter?!" the young boy yelled, his hidden eyes tearing up, making his bandages wet, "I… I could have learned to sense chakra! Or the damn fox might have healed my eyes!"

"Naruto…" his sensei began, not getting a chance to speak.

"What does it matter his clan?! He is not the clan, he's…"

"ENOUGH!" yelled Kakashi, allowing his Killer intent to spike momentarily. "Naruto… it is done and _I_ am the only one being damned to hell for this. Do you think I _wanted _this to happen, that I would have to chose between you two? It was not easy Naruto, and even harder to tell Sasuke… I lied to him Naruto, I told him that I would not be able to get him to Konoha in time to save his life… I could have… but at the cost of you Naruto. And then, just as I was about to ask him if he would donate his eyes… He just looked at me and tells me: Give them to Naruto! Not only have I lied and killed one of my students, I convinced him to participate in the theft of his own bloodline!"

The two were silent for a time, before Naruto felt the man start to unwrap his eyes, "I don't know what to fully expect from this." The man said bluntly, "According to Sasuke, having both of his eyes will make it easy on you, unlike my own Sharingan. He claimed it was a matter of internal balance rather than blood that made it so draining to use my own eye, though it is because of the blood that lets the Sharingan turn on and off."

As soon as the wrapping fell the rest of the way off Naruto tentatively opened his eyes. The world was brighter and he could see so much more clearly. For a brief second he didn't know how he could have looked through his eyes before without seeing this clearly. His memories all seemed so hazy in comparison to what he saw of the drab little room now. Looking at Kakashi he could see the little movements the man made, the slight moving of his eye that showed his attention, even the few seals that the man had sewn into his garments. It was… breath taking.

"NARUTO!" Kakashi shouted for the fourth time, finally getting his attention, "I know it's a lot to take in all at once but you can't let your attention waver like that."

"Kakashi-Sensei?" the boy asked, confused on what had happened.

"Don't worry too much. Those new to the Sharingan, I've learned over the years, tend to lose focus and attention to their surroundings, their new increased vision driving them to distraction. It will fade in a few days, less possibly."

"Now… I must explain to you more about the Sharingan before anything else can happen." The man started, "As you have already seen your vision is… _much,_ much, better. From what I remember after having gotten my eye it can only be compared to having the eye's of a hawk. The thing is, they _will_ get stronger the more you use them. It will become easier and easier to predict your opponents movements, up until the point where, after fully developing, you will be able to see their movements before they even make them."

"When Chakra is actively being used you will be able to see it, though not in the precise detail like the Hyuga's Byakugan. You _will_ be able to tell apart the elements though, and likewise how it is being molded. You will see through most genjutsu, save the strongest, and you will find that you can mimic anyone nearly perfectly after seeing them do something. Repeating how a person molds their chakra exactly will take time and is limited to how well you can mold your own chakra though, so I warn you. Just because you see someone perform a jutsu perfectly, does not mean you will be able to do the same. Likewise, if someone performs a physical activity and you do not have the flexibility, stamina, or muscular strength to perform it, it may either be underperformed or fail completely… take my word on this."

"Lastly is the fact that there are a number of special techniques that the Sharingan, and in some cases _only_ the Sharingan, can perform. Hypnotizing enemies who look you in the eye, enhancing your ability with Genjutsu, preventing tunnel vision, and of course, should you chose to, the Uchiha style of fighting, one that can be used without the Sharingan, but is made into something else entirely when it _is_ used."

"Lastly," the older man said, looking into the three tomoe that were split between Naruto's two eyes, "I offer you a warning. Using the Sharingan will make you feel invincible, as though you can counter any attack, react to any situation… some even claim that having the doejutsu, or any doejutsu for that matter, will make a person complacent and lazy. These people are right. Even I have gotten lack in my personal training, especially as of late. I have become cocky and big headed… Now that I have felt these effects first hand I can agree. The Sharingan is _not_ unbeatable, as Zabuza and his apprentice have shown us, and I know for a fact, having learned it first hand, that just because you can _see_ an attack coming, does _not_ mean you can react in time to counter it."

Naruto was stumped, there was so much potential at his fingertips now, thanks to the lies of Kakashi, the bigotry of the Elder Council, and Sasuke's sacrifice. He felt angry at the former two for what they did to Sasuke, he felt so much sorrow and pity for what Sasuke had done and given up, he was so sorry to Kakashi for putting him in a situation where he had to make that choice, he was angry at himself for doing all of this to Sasuke and Kakashi.

Still thinking to himself he absently noted when Kakashi stood up, looking down at the boy for a second before he spoke. "Come on Naruto… Sasuke wished to speak with you before he… passes."

'_Strange… I don't notice any movement in his mask when he speaks other than the jaw moving up and down.'_ The blond boy noted, almost as an idle curiosity, his body moving on its own as he mechanically stood, walking with the older man across the hallway into, if he remembered correctly, Inari's room.

Numb

She felt so numb.

For the past four years, ever since she was eight and had entered the academy her focus for becoming a kunoichi was Uchiha Sasuke. She had trained for him, dieted for him, made sure to do her best in the academy for him, she had even grown her hair out for him… She _hated_ having long hair!

Haruno Sakura sat there, hunched over a piece of parchment, brush in hand, making containment seals for Kakashi. He had shown her how to do the first one… the one where he put Zabuza's remains, and asked her to make at least three more.

'_One for that boy, one for Gato, and… one for Sasuke.'_ Her inner psyche rationalized, almost as numb as she was on the outside.

Currently she was working on her twentieth. She had only made two failures, attempts number three and four, before she had managed to calm her hand's enough to make the container for Sasuke's body after he finally passed.

'_Add the inner layer for power and objective.'_ She recited to herself, her dull eyes looking down at the parchment she was currently using, _'the outer for stability and endurance. An even number of seals must be used to prevent the sealed object from being harmed. If you make the seals too powerful then only a larger object can be stored, as a weaker will require too little energy and create a cascading explosion. Too weak and the object will only partially seal, potentially destroying it.'_

Finishing the seal she put it on the floor to dry, next to the other successes she had created. Sitting up straight once more she turned her head, staring at the door where the bodies of Gato and the child Hunter-nin, Haku Zabuza had named him, were currently laid to rest.

Standing she walked over to the room, hesitating briefly at the door, _'What am I doing here?'_ she asked herself.

Not so surprisingly she got a response, something that had been happening more often of late than usual, _'There's something in here… Something of ours… Something we __**need…**_'

She knew it wasn't healthy, but she agreed, pushing the door open.

'_But what is it? What is it that's pulling me in here like this?'_ she asked the voice in her head, yelling at it when no response came, _'Answer me god damnit!'_

Stepping in she noted how much colder in this room it was than the rest of the house, _'Makes sense, Kakashi sensei put a few seals on the room earlier to help preserve the bodies… He only had me make the seals to try and distract me.'_

The voice in her head _did_ respond to this, though not in the way she expected, '_Add the inner layer for power and objective the outer for stability and….'_

Pushing the voice down until it was no more than a gnat in the back of her head, she walked the rest of the way into the room, closing the door behind her.

Laying on two tabled were the bodies, already stripped of all their worldly possessions, which were folded and placed on the floor in the corner of the room.

On the left was Gato, the short fat figure she had killed with her own two hands. Idly she walked over to him, noting that she could still see where she had grabbed him… _'I did quite the number of his face.'_ Before she turned to the other body she gathered her saliva, spitting on dead old man.

The other was the boy that Naruto had killed. His body was quite bruised and battered, and in several places the skin was burnt black. _'Hmm, you can still see cloth in the wound, it was clearly burnt in. Well Kakashi-sensei wasn't going for medical perfection. Not when the other two were in such a state.'_ Sakura just nodded in agreement, a little peeved that her own mind wouldn't talk to her when she wanted it too. It was true too; a hint of the green and blue robes remained there. Whatever it was that Naruto did… it partially cauterized the wound.

Looking down at the face of the deceased Shinobi she spoke quietly to herself, as if she were afraid to wake him, "So you are Sasuke-kun's killer… the reason Naruto will receive those Sharingan eye's? A man with an Advanced Bloodline, a Kekkei-Genkai?" she asked morbidly, cupping his cold face in her hands.

His body was like ice, so cold that it almost hurt her to keep her bare flesh upon it, "I hate you… _so_ much. You cannot begin to understand what you have done to me." Gently she moved her hands over the smooth pallid skin, gently forcing the corpse's eyes open, "It's that blood of yours, of course. It drives people mad. It made the Hyuga's arrogant, it drove Sasuke-kun's brother to Clan Genocide, and it forced you into a desperate killer. It is because of you and your blood that I no longer have a reason to live. Yet…"

'_Yet we are not ready to die?'_ asked her inner voice, asking if that was the reason.

"No, we are not ready to die… not yet, but why?" she answered, "What is that I have left to do now? The answer is in here somewhere… You wouldn't happen to know, would you?" she asked the dead man, looking at him curiously, "Hmp, fine, be that way." She said flippantly when the corpse did not answer, "You know, maybe I'll make it a reason in life to hunt people like you down… Maybe?"

Instead the girl walked over to the different possessions that the two men and Momochi Zabuza, who was stuck inside of a scroll at Haku's feet, had during their lives.

The first thing that Sakura did was grab Kubikiri Hōchō, forcing chakra into her muscles once more to successfully lift it. "Hmm… this sword of your old master, it's a bitch to lift. Oops, pardon my language; I'm not usually so brutish but… I just don't give damn anymore." Holding the weapon she could still feel her arms straining to carry it upright.

'_We really need to work out more!'_ came the voice in her head, _'Maybe Kakashi-sensei will let us keep it? I think it's only fair, we killed the bastard, even if Kaka-sensei did most of the work.'_

'_Maybe… it would be good for training, not to mention it's a pretty intimidating weapon.'_ Just to be sure she yelled over to the dead body of Haku quietly, "You don't think Zabuza-teme is going to be needing this anymore, do you?" an air of silence clung to the moment, the young girl clearly waiting for a response, "Naw, I didn't think he would either, just checking."

Looking down she saw one other thing that drew her eye, _'Hmm, that boy's face is over here!'_ she thought childishly, "Hm, well, you _did_ steal Sasuke-kun from Naruto and I, so it would only be fair for me to steal something from you!"

Putting down the zanbato gently, she picked up the cracked mask, "Hmm… Well, I won't be able to wear it in or around Konoha until I have the Kirigakure symbol covered with a Konoha one and I'll definitely need to get that crack fixed up." Flipping it over she puts the mask on her face. Being a mask for hunter-nin it clung to her face without any other strings or anything.

"Interesting!" came her slightly muffled response from behind the mask, though she would have been clearly audible to any living person inside the small room. "It filters out breathing, makes it so a person could walk through clouds of dust, mist, or possible even poison, and not have to breathe it in. Amazing seal work if I do say so myself. Not only that, but I can see with limited loss of visibility. In fact I bet if it were dark enough, or there was a warm body in the area I would be able to either see in the dark or an infrared picture of the target… Kaka-sensei might not let me take this, the ANBU department will want to study it, try and take it apart… Well… I am a Kunoichi after all. What they don't know about won't hurt them."

Pulling the mask off she opens her hip pouch, sighing when she didn't have enough room for her new mask.

'_Well, there are a bunch of containment scrolls in the other room… We can make another one with weaker seal's so as to _not_ blow up Tsunami-san's home. It would fit right in with the others._'

'_Hmm… good thinking me!'_ she decided, walking back into the other room, mask and sword in hand. Something wasn't right still though. Standing in the doorway Sakura looked over the room once more. _'Gato… Pile of junk… Haku… Haku…'_ suddenly it clicked, that's what she _needed_ from the room.

"You know what, remember what I said before, about hunting down your kind? I think I will. Missing nin, madmen with Kekkei-Genkai that they can't control, murderers, and rapist who destroy lives like you did mine… all of them must suffer… And what better weapon to use on your enemy than their own blade?" Hefting the large zanbato the girl walked into the other room to make two more containment seals, "I'll be back in a second… you owe me an arm and a leg and an eye for good measure." And with that the insane woman was off.

"I'll be outside the room Naruto." Kakashi said quietly, sliding the thin door closed behind the blond.

The room was dark, two candle's at Sasuke's head were the only things to give light, not that it's resident needed it very much.

Stepping forwards Naruto quietly looked down on Sasuke's prone form, his eyes covered similarly to how Naruto's were just minutes ago. His face was otherwise covered in sweat, his with a thick brown blanket.

Kneeling next to his fellow genin Naruto noticed a bucket with washcloth. Dunking and wringing it out he patted the boy's face down, trying to sooth him for the little time he had left.

"Kakashi…" the boy asked suddenly, his voice a weak horse thing, something Naruto couldn't help but think was _not_ Sasuke, not what he would have wanted, "Has Naruto woken yet?" Taking a deep breath he let it out slowly, getting a sigh from Sasuke, "You've been doing that too much today sensei."

Naruto chuckled a touch here, no mirth was behind it though, "Has he?" the blond Sharingan user asked, watching as the Uchiha turned his head towards the sound slowly, "It's me Sasuke, Naruto. I…" suddenly he couldn't breathe, his eyes trying to fill with tears and failing. Finally he got out, "I'm so sorry Sasuke!"

The raven haired boy smiled at that, "I know you are Naruto, but I'm not… I only wish I could have killed that man… But since I cannot then I will settle for seeing my mother and father once more."

"I swear Sasuke," the red eyed child said, grasping the blanket that covered Sasuke with both hands, bowing his head down between his arms, "I will kill him for you, I will get revenge on your brother in your place. I will do everything in my power to make it so!" His eyes widened when he heard the other boy chuckling at the proclamation.

"Good Naruto, because you are the only person who could hope to do so. Only an Uchiha can kill an Uchiha, or so it is said, so I guess what it _really_ means is it takes a Sharingan to negate a Sharingan." The boy's hand moved under the blankets, grasping one of Naruto's hands.

"Naruto I…" a sudden coughing fit overtook the last loyal Uchiha, flecks of blood flying from his mouth onto the arm that he suddenly had covering his face. Naruto gave an exclamation of, "Sasuke!" which was quickly waved off by the other boy, "I'm fine Naruto… As fine as a dead man _can_ be."

"That's not true Sasuke you…" the formerly cerulean eyed boy stopped, realizing that in fact Sasuke would _not_ be getting better.

"It matters not." The other boy started again, his unseeing eyes looking straight up towards the ceiling, "I have important things to tell you before I die, things that _must_ be passed on to you before I go. Even Itachi did so when he spared me, though I was never able to read more of the Rikudo Tablet. Go to the Naka Shrine in Konoha. In the shrine's main hall, beneath the seventh tatami mat from the far right you will find the entrance to the old meeting hall of the Uchiha. In the true shrine there you will find the secrets of the Sharingan, as well as a tablet supposedly written by the Rikudo Sennin. I could only ever read the first line of the tablet, which explains what is needed to read the rest. Likewise many of the writing's of the Uchiha needed a Sharingan to be read, something I never had. Do me a favor… when you go, read the tablet first, find out what it says. Itachi… he told me it held the secrets of the _true_ Uchiha clan, you must learn from it!"

By this point the boy had grasped onto Naruto's shirt, pulling the boy closer to him, "I promise Sasuke, I will." He answered, more than a little nervous.

Laying back down Sasuke coughed a little before sighing in relief. After a few more minutes of peaceful quiet Sasuke spoke once more, "Naruto?" he asked, getting a responsive grunt from the other boy, "Tell me… do you consider me a friend?" he asked, "Truthfully, without any lies like Kakashi-sensei's, do you consider me a friend?"

Naruto almost ignored the question to ask after the comment about Kakashi's lies but decided to give the dying boy what he asked, "Y-yes! Sasuke, you and Sakura-chan… you are precious people to me, I do very much consider you my friend, as I hope you consider me yours!"

Sasuke gave a bittersweet smile at that, "Oh, I consider you a friend Naruto… My only friend to be honest. Sakura was always too clingy, while Kakashi was so aloof. You though… you were persistent for my attention, pushing me to acknowledge you as a friend but still always _more_ than willing to point out my flaws. Tell me… am I your best friend?"

"Yes." The other boy answered without hesitation, letting Sasuke know it true.

"I almost wish you had said no Naruto-kun." The blind child whispered, his body feeling weaker and weaker by the second, "Naruto… I am glad to have you as my best friend. It is why… when Kakashi-sensei told me that he could not save me and that you needed new eyes quickly or… or else you would lose your sight, that I offered my eyes, despite knowing… knowing he had lied to me. Kakashi could have gotten me to Konoha… to Konoha in time to save my life… I know this. But he chose you over me Naruto…" here the boy grabbed at Naruto's shirt once more, pulling his head close to Naruto's ear, speaking even slower, unable to get his voice over a whisper "You are the reason I am dead… You… killed… me…"

And with those words uttered his grip loosened, his head falling back down onto the pillow… his chest no longer rising and falling.

Uchiha Sasuke was dead.

Naruto's new eyes began to water immediately, warm tears running down his cheeks as he sobbed quietly. His eyes suddenly hurt and it felt as though the whole world was falling apart. His vision suddenly blurred and a great pain settled in his eyes, soon becoming nearly unbearable. Standing he walked to the door, leaving his fallen comrade, never to see him again.

Sliding the door open Kakashi turned to greet him, stopping before he said anything.

"He's gone Kakashi-sensei… he's…" the pain was too much though and he fell to the ground, black nothingness greeting him.

Kakashi sighed as he closed the door behind Naruto, it had been an overly trying couple of days and it was still before daybreak.

'_Sasuke's as good as a corpse, Naruto has the Sharingan and managed to use tap into the power of the Kyuubi yesterday, Sakura already seems… unbalanced. Where did I go wrong sensei? Obito?'_

Indeed it was a mess. Sitting there Kakashi's near perfect memory just seemed to flow over the past twenty-four hours with his students.

'_I watched one of my students go on a bloody rampage with a legendary sword!'_ he thought grimly to himself, _'Of course that was _before_ she killed a man with her own two hands and _after_ she had destroyed The Demon of Bloody Mist's body. He was as good as dead, sure, but for a mere child like her to be so enraged… I worry what she's going to be like after this.'_

Already he had noticed things about the girl, worrying signs. _'She's was detached, almost completely emotionless after she woke up. If I didn't know better I would swear she was one of Danzo's projects. Worse though is when she _does_ show emotion's. Not a single tear over Naruto or Sasuke yet, but I heard her laughing as if someone had told the funniest joke before… Hmm, perhaps I should go check on her? I don't know how long Naruto and Sasuke will be… Sasuke…'_

Of the three of them that boy was his biggest regret so far. _'I killed him… I don't know if he realized it or not, but I killed him. First I chose to save Naruto's eyes over his life, then I lied to him, and after the fact he goes and offers his eyes to Naruto… I wasn't even able to work up the courage to ask him myself… I could feel his eyes on me, boring into my very soul… and then he offered them.'_

A single tear traveled down his eye, the only eye that _could_ shed tears still. _'And Naruto… He-'_

Before the jounin could even finish the thought the door right against his back slid open, a crying Naruto stumbling out.

'_Crying? But… he shouldn't be able to cry anymore! Not with the surgery!'_ he thought turning to look at the sobbing teen, who had tears of blood streaming from his mutated Sharingan's. One of them looked like it was just red, small little bumps on the outside of the pupil, the other with thin black lines almost half way to the outer edge of the iris.

"He's gone Kakashi-sensei…" The boy mumbled, his eyelids suddenly drooping, "He's…" with that the boy fell forward, saved from slamming his head on the floor by the Jounin's quick reflexes.

Sighing once more he picked the small genin up, placing him back in his own bed, washing off his cheeks of the blood that had poured from where his tear ducts had once been.

"I'm getting to old for this shit…" he muttered under his breath, wondering what could have caused the mutation in the Sharingan.

Soon he was back in Sasuke's room, checking and confirming the boy's death. It was a shame, he knew, but in the Hidden Villages the Jinchuriki are a top priority. Besides, what was one more stone to carry? After all isn't a piece of straw that's supposed to break the camel's back?

"Duty is heavier than a mountain, death is lighter than a feather… I guess it was your turn to rest, eh Sasuke?" he asked his student solemnly.

Blowing out the candles in the room he walked downstairs, towards the basement where Sakura had been set up making scrolls.

Immediately his trained nose picked up on three scents: Drying ink, Soapy water, and the rusty, coppery, smell of blood.

'_Please don't tell me she destroyed another one of the bodies?!'_ at this rate R&D wasn't going to get _anything_ from this mission.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs found Sakura setting a scroll out to dry next to the others… all fifty of them. Looking closely he noticed a few spots near the door that were a little cleaner than the others, spots where blood had been spilt and cleaned up, most glaringly different about the room though was the object sitting next to Sakura.

"Sakura," he began, using a purposely bored sounding voice, "Any reason you have that sword out of storage? I seemed to remember having put it in there with the rest of the stuff."

To her credit the girl didn't even react to the sound of his voice, she just kept on with the brush, not missing beat in her strokes, "Um… well I finished with a few more containment seals than I expected, so I went ahead and sealed up the bodies and all the other stuff… I just figured that… well that I could use it? The sword I mean." Here the girl did look up at him, blushing gently, "I… It's not a problem, right Kakashi-sensei? I just thought that it could help me… give me a unique style and… well, with Naruto and Sasuke… I don't want to fail anymore… I…" here she finally stopped, looking up at him demurely.

'_Damn… she's learned how to pull on the heart strings, hasn't she.' _He thought bitterly, not able to refute her claim, "Um… well, no, it's not a _problem_ per say…"

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthan kyou! Kaka-sensei" the girl said, a rather large smile crossing her face.

'_Maa maa, Sakura… But that smile doesn't reach your eye's… What are you planning?'_

"Alright Sakura, you can use it… though I did come down here for a reason." He said, leaving it open, not _wanting_ to say it out loud.

The pink haired girl though said nothing, her smile simply shrinking, one of her hands reaching over for a finished scroll, "Your ready to seal him then?" she asked, handing the finished product over to him.

"Sakura, you don't need to be so distant. It's ok to grieve!" the man explained, only getting another smile from the girl.

"I… I'm fine for the moment Kaka-sensei! He… he's been dead since yesterday morning, his mind just didn't figure it out until today."

The man looked at her incredulously, "Sakura…" he began once more, not wanting his student to turn into something akin to stone.

"No!" she interrupted, not letting the older man finish his sentence, "I understand what you are saying sensei… but I am a Kunoichi… a Shinobi… and a Shinobi must never show tears… I know what this means now… I lost control the other day because of my emotions… I cried, I let my tears flow… and they swept me away." He watched as she shook herself from the daze she had been falling into, looking at him with a hard glint to her jade green eyes, "I was swept away, and I will _not_ let that happen again." Turning around she stalked away from the jounin, gathering up all the scrolls that were dry already.

Sighing, one more time, the man turned away, walking up the stairs to seal away his student's body.

'_Hmm… Naruto looks so sad now…'_ Sakura thought, looking at the shorter genin as they walked along the road to Konoha, hoping to be home within the hour. Ever since Sasuke had died he had been like he was now: Shoulders slumped, red Sharingan eyes dull and lifeless, broody. _'I wonder why?'_

'_Are you really that detached?'_asked the voice in the back of her head, sounding worried, _'Are WE really that cold and callous now that Sasuke-kun is gone? Was he _truly_ the only thing anchoring us down?'_

The girl shook her head, pushing the voice down to a mere whisper while hiking up the giant sword on her back once more, it being the reason they were walking and not running to Konoha, _'He shouldn't show his emotions like that, he didn't even _like_ Sasuke for most of the time we were a team… Besides, he has so much more to live for, he still has his dreams ahead of him._'

'_And we have ours too now!'_ the voice came once more, breaking free of Sakura's mental grasp.

'_Damn you! When I want to speak to you, you ignore me and when I tire of listening to you, you keep on talking!'_ she yelled in her head.

"Are you alright there, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, looking at the girl strangely. She had been broadcasting her emotions across her face again, something that happened all too often when she spoke with her 'Inner Sakura' as she called it.

"Maa maa, I'm fine Naruto, just thinking…" she told him, giving him a small fake smile, deciding to distract him a little, "You look so sad Naruto… I never thought I would say it but I miss that loud knuckleheaded ninja from the Academy. You need to smile again; it's been nearly a week since you woke up."

If anything the comment made his sad face look sadder, "I… I know Sakura-chan, it's just… Why him and not me, you know? Things could have been so different in that fight if I had been better, if I had better control… Sasuke might be alive…"

"Naruto stop it… Sasuke died for you, he gave you the things that were most precious to him: his eyes and his vengeance, just so you could see again, so you could fulfill your dream." Looking at the boy she chose to go with a different tactic, "Well… has any good come from this mission?" she asked, looking at him hard, the two of them stopping on their walk along the dirt road, Kakashi stopping not far ahead of them, watching the two of them speak, "I mean if you were truly honest, can you say that nothing good came of this trip to the Land of Waves?"

Naruto stopped for a second and Sakura could almost see his thoughts moving as he recalled the good and the bad of the mission.

"Why don't we take a break here then…" interrupted their sensei, looking down at the two of them, "I think we should talk again before we get to the village anyways."

More than willingly the pink haired girl unstrapped the zanbato, letting it sink into the dirt a ways. Sitting down with her back against the cool metal, looking expectantly at Naruto.

"Well… I guess there _were_ some things that were good… But at what cost?" the boy answered eventually.

Kakashi answered for him, "As much as it pains me to say this, but at a rather low one." At the shocked look of his blond student Kakashi continued on, "Naruto, I want you to think about this for a second, ok? We were a rookie genin team, just two months out of the academy when we started this mission, and we took on two well renowned Chuunin level Shinobi, one potentially Jounin level Shinobi, possibly even ANBU level, and one Shinobi who is listed as an A-rank missing-nin. On top of that we stopped the incursion of a dangerous economic threat to both the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire, not to mention the danger posed by having so many bandits, and eventually the possibility of missing-nin, right outside of the Land of Fire. And while getting rid of all of that we lost _one_ genin?"

While Kakashi fixed his gaze on Naruto Sakura decided to pick it up, "Sounds to _me_ like that was the kind of job ANBU would normally be sent out on, eh Kaka-sensei?"

The man nodded his head to the affirmative, "Yes, it would have been a lower level ANBU mission, but they do go out on similar ventures. A jounin squad for sure though. And what about you personally, did anything good happened to you?"

"Well, yeah, I mean I guess so, I mean I have the Sharingan now… But still, I feel like I stole it from him! They were his eyes; he had been waiting for them for so long! And just like that, he gives them to me because of what some old people in Konoha would think!"

'_Well… he's one step closer to the big job now, right?'_ came a sudden thought, _'Besides… Sasuke was so alone when he was with us… maybe it was a good thing for him too…?'_

"I know one other good thing that happened Naruto." She said suddenly, having learned that the voice was usually right, "You're one step closer to being Hokage now, aren't you?"

The spiky haired boy blinked, looking at her dumbly, not able to comprehend the words that were coming out of her mouth, "She's right Naruto, you most defiantly are." Was Kakashi's input, nodding sagely, "Not only will the Sharingan help you fight and train, but the mission itself too has helped you come a lot farther, both of you. I doubt you two will be freezing up the next time you get into a fight, not after Zabuza and his apprentice… not after already having one teammate die on you."

Both students looked up at him in surprise here, so he carried on with his train of thought, "It's a cold thing to say, but it's true you two, after already having witnessed the death of a teammate first hand your resolves have already gotten stronger. Why else would you be lugging around that sword Sakura, or would you be trying to fight through your problems here Naruto? I know it hurts, I know from personal experience how much it hurts to lose a teammate. I lost a dear friend of my own on my first mission as a Jounin… I was two years younger than you Sakura, and three years younger than you are now Naruto."

"I had become a Genin at age six and graduated to Chuunin as a rookie beside my teammates five months later. We were in the middle of the third war when I was promoted to Jounin, so my team was sent out immediately." He informed his mesmerized students, his lone visible eye aching in remembrance, "My sensei was a seasoned jounin and was needed on the front lines, so I led my two comrades on a mission to destroy the Kannabi Bridge in Kusa… Ironic isn't it, we came here to help build a bridge, while I went to go destroy a bridge back then, and the end result is still the same."

"In the end we did destroy the bridge, though not before my teammate, Uchiha Obito was killed and I was blinded in my left eye, receiving his left eye as a gift." Looking down at the stunned Naruto he chuckled a little, "We are a lot alike Naruto. In time you will heal from this, just like I did back then, and in time I'm sure you will become a legend in your own right." Turning his attention to his other student he smiled at her beneath his mask, "You too Sakura, something tells me you might just become known as the next Tsunade."

Jumping to his feet the jounin took a few steps, putting out an arm for each of his remaining students to grasp, pulling them up to their own feet, "Come on, were almost home and we have a lot more to do once we get there." He said, turning his back to his students as he walked forwards.

Sakura was pleased to see a small smile on Naruto's face, _'At least it's better than him moping like before.'_

'_Yeah, though what Kakashi said.'_ She thought back to her subconscious mind, patting her kunai pouch were the three scrolls were currently resting, _'I think he might be thinking of the wrong Sannin.'_ And with that she strapped on the heavy sword and began to run two catch up to the other boys.

'_You don't suppose they would have books on bloodline theft in the general library, do 'ya?'_

Walking into the Village Naruto was already starting to feel slightly better, Kakashi's story and Sakura's words helping him a lot. _'But it's still gunna take time… But I _will_ be better, for Sasuke's sake and Sakura's!'_

"Team seven returning from mission, requesting reentry to the village. Mission, Successful." Kakashi announced as they neared the gate guards, two Chuunin who looked like they would rather be anywhere but there.

"Names?' the one on the right asked, a young man with a mane of hair sticking over one of his eyes.

"Team Seven, under Hatake Kakashi, Genin: Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura."

The other one looked down at their list, pointing to something for his partner, "Hey Izumo, their missing someone!"

"Where's your last student Hatake?" the one Naruto guessed was Izumo asked, sounding and looking surprised as he read the name, "Uchiha Sasuke?!"

"Our team encountered more hostiles than outlined in the mission parameter and we took losses. Uchiha Sasuke was killed in action. May we report to the Hokage's office for further debriefing?"

"Approved, go and get out of here Kakashi… We'll be seeing you at the bar later I guess?" the second one asked.

Kakashi seemed to relax some, "Yeah, for more than just that Kotetsu, we have to do Naruto's _Kakan_ (Coming of age Ceremony) and inform the woman to do a _Mogi_ for Sakura."

From the looks that Naruto and Sakura were receiving from the two that meant a little more to the older Shinobi than it did to the genin. Only after walking away did Naruto ask the question that was on both the student's minds.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei? What's a _Kakan_ and _Mogi?_ And why do we need to go to the bar to do it?"

Kakashi actually look a little surprised at hearing the question from Naruto, "hn, I forget that you two weren't raised by Shinobi at times Naruto." He said, as they kept walking through the village, Naruto getting many odd looks from the villagers. "Well, to put it simply, a Kakan is a boy's coming of age party, where they are declared a man in the village. And Mogi is the same for a girl being declared a woman. In Konoha, at the very least, it is a Shinobi only affair, done when a genin either graduates to Chuunin or makes their first kill."

Naruto's eyes widened when he heard the answer, "I had almost forgotten about that boy… It just seems so much smaller now, after everything else that happened."

"Yeah, I guess it does… same with me." Was Sakura's almost emotionless response, earning a strange look from both the males of the group.

'_Didn't Kakashi say she killed like more than a dozen people?'_ he thought to himself, almost afraid of his other teammate now.

"Well then… Lets hurry up and get to the Hokage, we'll most likely have to meet with the Elder Council later tonight or early tomorrow."

And a short while later they found themselves in the Hokage's waiting room, Naruto getting a very strange look from the receptionist.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei?" the boy asked, looking warily at the girl who was watching him, "Why have people been staring at me so much?"

It was Sakura who answered, sounding rather serious as she answered, "Hmm… It could have something to do with the fact that you have scars on the outer corners of your eyes or that said eye's are Sharingan's?" she asked, getting a dull thump of Naruto palming his forehead.

"Maa maa, Sakura, though maybe we should have gotten those covered _before_ we paraded you through town, eh?"

"You think?" was the mumbled reply from his male student, "I'm sure that by the end of the hour it's going to be said throughout the town that I killed Sasuke and harvested the Sharingan from his dead body!"

"That's ridiculous Naruto! Everyone knows you can't harvest a Sharingan from a dead body! You would have had to pluck it out while he was still alive!" his sensei answered in an overly optimistic voice, making the green faced receptionist blanch.

Sakura apparently couldn't help herself, "Really Kaka-sensei? I thought Orochimaru of the Sannin and Kumogakure have been trying to get Kekkei-Genkai from both living and non living bodies for years now?"

"Maa maa, good point Sakura… I SUPPOSE Naruto could have killed Sasuke before he ripped his eyes from Sasuke's rotting corpse!" the man couldn't help but chuckle as the poor woman who was stationed at the Hokage's office ran from the room, dry heaves soon becoming quite wet.

"I hate you both!" Naruto said, burying his head in his arms.

His mortification was cut by the sound of an old man's voice, "Enough you three, I've gone through four secretaries in the past month and I would have LIKED to keep one of them!" with that said the Hokage called them in, sounding rather upset, "HATAKE! GET IN HERE AND START ANSWERING SOME QUESTION'S!"

With that the three walked into the room, more than a little nervous.

As soon as he was through the door Kakashi had a black book, nearly an inch thick, thrown towards his head, barely able to catch the book, which was thrown rather hard by the benevolent old Kage.

"Do you mind telling me," he started, in an overly calm voice as he stuffed his pipe with tobacco, his face hidden by his red and white Kage's hat as he looked down at what he was doing "Why one of my _genin_ is in the Kirigakure Bingo Book? Hmmmm? Or why Momochi Zabuza's page is listed as "assumed dead, pending on body?" Or maybe why I've already heard tales of Naruto stealing the Sharingan from Naruto's dead body? I _wish_ I could joke about that last one like you three were, but more than one ANBU has reported the rumor to me!" standing up, slamming his pipe and hands down on the hard wood desk he yells into Kakashi's face, 'WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED OUT THERE?!"

"I don't receive a mission update from you _once_, even after my Shinobi find two nearly dehydrated Missing-nin from Kiri, practically on my doorstep, who admits that they were taken out by a genin team led by Hatake Kakashi. Not three hours after _that_, which was two and a half days into your mission, I am visited by Kiri Hunter-nin in order to hand the bodies over, after which they inform me that the two had been working alongside one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, who they _suspected_ was working out of Wave, under the aegis of the Gato Corporation. I am _also_ informed that the Gato Corporation, which has been slowly monopolizing EVERYTHING in the Land of Wave, has put a _**bounty**_ out for the head of your _**client**_! No more than ten days after I receive a falcon from Kiri, who were keeping up with their end of the Great Truce, informed us that one of our GENIN had killed twenty-six men, and that SHE, had been given a place in the Kiri Bingo book as a 'precautionary measure.'" Sitting down he lit his pipe, puffing on it deeply, speaking once more in a much calmer voice, "Feel free to start explaining yourself Kakashi, and _maybe_ you can avoid spending some sessions with Ibiki."

While Kakashi explained what had occurred while they were on mission Naruto was staring wise eyed at the old man, _'Ojiji-san? What was that, I've never felt killing intent like that, not even from Zabuza!?'_

Soon though it came to the point where Kakashi was explaining the final fight. "It was only after I had engaged Zabuza that I felt Naruto's chakra spike."

"Spike?" the old man asked, repeating when Kakashi hesitated, "Spikes how? Did he access the Kyuubi, did magical rainbows shoot out his ass and give him super power's? Well man, I don't have all day!"

Kakashi only grimaced as Sakura asked, "The Kyuubi?" earning another glare from the old Sarutobi in front of them.

"Ka-ka-shi…!" the man said in a warning voice, "You _did_ inform your other students of Naruto's status as a Jinchuriki after you passed them… _Right?_"

"Um, hey Jijii, I thought that was an S-rank secret that no one was supposed to know?" asked Naruto, who was almost as confused as the younger Haruno.

Turning his eyes on Naruto the old man smiled, "Well, yes, technically it is. _However,_" here he looked back at Kakashi while explaining to Naruto, "It was your sensei's responsibility, as well as Sakura and Sasuke's right, to be told that. If they didn't know then they are potentially at risk should anything ever happen to you or the seal. Now Kakashi, I'm assuming _your_ fight went pretty standard par, no?" getting a nod he switched his gaze back to Naruto, speaking in a much more calm voice once again, "Naruto, is there anything of importance you would like to add from your fight?"

Scratching his head a little he stopped and thought about it, "Eh, not really, I mean I used the Fox's Chakra for a few things, but that's mostly just things I did during the battle. That Hunter-nin guy used a bunch of Ice jutsu like Kakashi-sensei said… And, well, Sasuke, he died because he jumped in front of an attack meant for me."

For a second Hiruzen's eyes softened even more, "I see, well I am afraid that the Council will likely ask for a more detailed account of both the techniques you and your opponent used. Now, since we are nearing the end, Sakura," he said, looking towards the impassive Haruno, "Dear, would you mind telling me what happened to incite you so much?" Looking at her the old man couldn't help but be impressed that the girl was still standing while keeping the giant weapon on her back.

"Hai, Hokage-sama, I… I lost control of my emotions." She said, sounding disappointed with herself, "After Kaka-sensei hit Zabuza with that lightning attack I heard that… beast, talking about Sasuke and Naruto, about how only one of them was going to make it. He started taunting Kakashi, making him chose between the two of them. It was _sickening_! I… I just went mad with rage; I stabbed him with my kunai again and again and again… And then that man showed up, Gato, with all those thugs of his and all it took was him insulting Sasuke and Naruto one more time… I picked up Zabuza's sword and I… I threw myself into them, spinning around so they couldn't reach me with their own weapons. And then when my arms tired and the sword dipped too low… I went after him with my own two hands."

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that Sakura-chan." The old man said, looking at her sympathetically, just getting a shake of the head from the girl.

"I'm not." Much too all the others shock, "I… Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, and I all talked before we got back to the village… I am upset that Sasuke is gone, but in a way this all helped me become a better Kunoichi… I don't regret it Hokage-sama."

The old man's eyes looked sad, yet he understood, understood all too well. "Of course Sakura, nonetheless my door is open should you need it. Carry on from there Kakashi." His voice no longer carrying the angry tone when he spoke to the jounin.

"Yes sir. Unfortunately Zabuza was right and I _didn't_ have enough time to get them both help soon enough. If I waited long enough to perform the proper eye surgery on Naruto with one of the mercenaries Gato had hired I would have taken too long to get Sasuke back to Konoha in time, likewise, if I had taken Sasuke home I would have been abandoning Sakura in a potentially dangerous situation and Naruto would have been permanently disabled. Of course I didn't dare trust either task to a simple shadow clone, which could have proven even more disastrous than one of them being dead or disabled. It is a rather unfortunate thing, but I did the best I could in a lose/lose situation. In the end my decision is one I felt would hold the most weight with both you and the Council at large: I saved the Sharingan as well as the vision of Konoha's Jinchuriki by giving Naruto Sasuke's eyes." Having no more to say Kakashi simply pulled free the scroll bag he had on his person and placed them before the Hokage.

"Thank you Kakashi, I assume you took standard ANBU procedures when containing the bodies and their effects for transport?"

"Hai Hokage-same." Was his quick response. A total lie.

"Excellent, Naruto, why don't you and Sakura head out to the waiting room for few minutes while Kakashi and I talk, you can explain to her about the Kyuubi, alright?"

The boy looked a little nervous, but complied, leading the girl out of the room.

The two men stared at each other for a second; gauging what the others reaction was going to be.

Hiruzen, the benign Hokage, spoke first. "At ease Kakashi, you've had a trying mission. While we _will_ be having a full and detailed debriefing at a later date we don't have the time for that right now. While you and your students were away the world has been falling apart at the seams."

This caught the jounin's attention, making him look up in surprise, "Hokage-sama?" he questioned, wondering _what_ exactly had been happening while they were in the isolated island nation.

The old man didn't say anything at first, choosing to pace behind his desk in contemplation. Finally he turned his back on Kakashi, walking towards a wall with a large map of the elemental countries on it. He could clearly see the recent addition of the rather large bridge that connected the Land's of Waves and Fire. It actually amazed him that the Hokage's men had learned of it already and made him wonder how much of their mission he had already known of before they had made it back to Konoha.

The silver haired Hatake was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of the Hokage's knuckles against the wall, "The Land of Lightning," The man said, his hand at the upper right corner of the map, "home to Kumogakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Though it signed onto the Great Treaty at the end of the last Shinobi World War they are the only country to resist demilitarization in this time of peace that the Continent has been experiencing. Iwa has begun the process, retiring one of their two Human weapons, Grand Seal-Master Roshi, from their Shinobi ranks and ending all genetic research as their end of the Truce. While Suna, who started the last War has surrendered a good deal of their own clientele over to Konoha, their only ally. Kirigakure deposed of the Yondaime Mizukage, though he still lives today as far as the world is concerned, and Konoha, who was the clear victor in the war has agreed not to train our own human weapon as well as opening our boarders up for the biannual Chuunin exams as a show of good will towards the rest of the continent. In turn each of the Five Kage's has agreed to keep their troops out of the minor village's jurisdiction without permission."

"As of Three weeks ago, not two days after you left Konoha, a majority of the signatories to the Great Treaty have declared that the Land of Lightning, and more importantly Kumogakure, must demilitarize or face a joint coalition and the prospect of war. Iwagakure, one of the few not a part of the coalition, has decided that the Land of Lightning has broken their end of the pact and broken off in turn, claiming that 'they will not be caught in the crossfire of Kumo's promised retaliation should any member of the coalition attempt to enter her boarders.' This in turn made several other pull free, fearing that former military giant Iwa was simply using Kumogakure's words as a reason to begin building their armies and marching to war once more."

As the older man looked towards him Kakashi couldn't help but think that the Hokage looked more tired than had ever seen before.

"This was all within the first _week_ of your mission. Since then the coalition has fallen to pieces and each of the Shinobi villages have begun to subtly prepare their armies, rout out spies while placing their own, and more than one report of supposed Bijuu and Jinchuriki activity has sprouted out, indicating either the retraining or startup of the Human Weapon programs. Konohagakure has already lead talks and stymied two possible sparks that could have lead to full out war, though it will not continue for much longer." The older man stopped here. There was no room for speculation; there was no need for Kakashi to ask: The Fourth Shinobi World War was imminent.

"What do you require of me Sarutobi-sama?" he asked, looking at the man neutrally, his mind racing as he remembered the vivid details of the last war.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, sighed, puffing on his pipe gently, "Most likely the Council is going to start up Konoha's Human Weapon Program once more, meaning that Naruto will need to be trained in the how of controlling the Kyuubi's chakra. And, while we need all the Shinobi we can get, the fact that he now has the Sharingan while a potential flight risk has been neutralized will not upset the majority of the Council in the slightest. Though there are other possibilities I won't try and guess what else they may come up with."

Nodding the silver hair Jounin asked the obvious question, "When will my team be meeting with them?" he asked, getting a weak grin in reply.

"Why, now of course!" making the Jounin groan.

**-Another Story I've had planned out for a while, a few detailed and interesting scenes already planned out. After the Chuunin exams this would be almost full AU/Want for a Nail. And no, Naruto cannot use the Mangekyo without having two fully developed Sharingan eyes, though the seeds have been planted.**

**Once more if you would like to use something from this feel free and if you want to adopt the fic you can, just shoot me a message so I can read what you write and favorite it.**

**DB3200- out!**


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